eRA's quarterly release date for winter will be moved one day earlier than previously scheduled. The release will now occur on January 18, 2017. The date was moved to ensure functionality availability one day prior to Inauguration Day. ASSIST, eRA Commons, IAR and releated services will be unavailable beginning at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, January 18 and ending no later than 7 a.m. on Thursday, January 19.

Unit Assignments/OSP: OSP Officers are assigned by unit to more evenly distribute the workload. The listing will help you identify the appropriate contact(s) when you need assistance in proposal preparation, contract assignment, or help with post award issues and questions.

Training Needs Survey: OSP would like your feedback on campus training needs in the area of sponsored projects. We encourage you to complete this short survey so that we can develop a comprehensive training program.

Fee for Service (FFS)- Amended policy for research related FFS to be retroactive to 7/1/16: The F&A rate is changing from 30% to 15%. Executed fee-for-service agreements assessed at the 30% F&A rate will be retroactively corrected to 15% F&A rate. To assist the campus in determining to which office to send your FFS, we have developed a decision tree. Please note submission through OSP requires completion and attachment of the Extramural Checklist including the Responsible Personnel List.

Uniform Guidance (UG) Brochure: A Uniform Guidance Quick Guide brochure has been developed with faculty and administrators in mind. This brochure highlights the most important aspects of UG that faculty need to know regarding federal funding. We hope you find it useful. Please print 2-sided in color for best effect.

At-Risk Accounts for Industry Sponsored Clinical Trial Agreements: Along with three academic departments, OSP, the IRAP support team, and GCA have been piloting a pending account process for industry sponsored clinical trial agreements for the last several months. “At-Risk Accounts” (aka “Pending Accounts”) are used to assist in tracking the actual cost of conducting a clinical trial, therefore, it is very important that the clinical departments use the At-Risk Account to facilitate appropriate accounting for expenditures associated with study activation including, study start-up fees and personnel expenses. Effective January 1, 2017, this process will be rolled out across campus.

What is the Process?

OSP receives your complete submission; including a signed Extramural Checklist for an Industry sponsored clinical trial.

The OSP Officer reviews the Extramural Checklist and updates IRAP, which triggers a notification to grants and contracts accounting.

Accounting sets up the At-Risk Account and notifies the PI/department. The start date of the pending/at risk account will be 1 year prior to the receipt date of the checklist by OSP to enable sites to charge activities related to study start up. And the account will remain ‘pending’ for 1 year after creation unless the account is either activated or terminated.

Department/Site applies start-up charges to the new account and then continues to use when becomes active. This includes start-up fees for IRB, Pharmacy, Radiology, etc., as well as personnel expenses associated with the time required for study activation procedures.

Reminder Regarding Revised Responsible Personnel List (RPL) Instructions: Revised RPL submissions are submitted when you are adding or removing responsible personnel from an existing project. When submitting a Revised RPL, please only include the names of those Responsible individuals being added to or removed from the project. For each individual, list the name, BlazerID, and project role and check the Add or Remove box, as applicable. Do not list everyone on the proposal; only list changes. For full instructions, please click here.

The Final Research Performance Progress Report (F-RPPR) will replace the Final Progress Report (FPR) for grants closeout, effective January 1, 2017. The F-RPPR will be available for use in eRA Commons on January 1, 2017. For small businesses, the new F-RPPR will be in effect at least 2 months later, due to the unique final reporting requirements that they face under the SBIR/STTR policy directive. If you have a final progress report due, and you wish to use the old FPR format of an uploaded document, you must submit the FPR before January 1, 2017. NIH will no longer accept any of the old format FPRs on or after January 1, 2017.

A new version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), (NSF 17-1) has been issued. The new PAPPG will be effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after January 30, 2017. The existing PAPPG (NSF 16-1) will continue to apply in the interim.

Webinars to review the changes are scheduled for November 7th and January 19th at 1 PM EST. Webinar registration is required on the outreach events website. Questions about the changes should be directed to the NSF Policy Office on (703) 292-8243 or by email to policy@nsf.gov.

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